Reinvention, entrepreneurial maturity, communication, and community are words to pay attention to in the coming year. Here’s why:

Whether you’re Linsay Lohan, Toyota or Bank of America, you’re reinventing, changing, upgrading yourself and your company to get ahead and stay ahead of the competition.

No matter how complex or simple the switch, your goal is to drive change instead of being driven by it. If you believe there’s an urgent need, you’ll establish a coalition of groups responsible for making it happen, specifically, the visionaries, strategists and implementers. For that coalition to be effective, you’ll need to communicate, again and again, the “why, what, how and how come” of the change effort.

Don’t ignore those who ask “Isn’t this change for change’ sake?” Recognize that they’ve had to endure unsuccessful innovative spirits in the past who insisted on throwing out the old, just because that’s what it was. These trouble shooters have grown tired of “ready, fire, aim” managers and want to be part of the solution instead part of the problem. Their input is important and their experience critical to the success of the mission. You can get them on board by including them in planning and problem solving. You can take their concerns seriously by getting in the trenches with them. Implementation from where they sit looks much different than it does at 30,000 feet.

Going back to how things were or wanting things to stay the same aren’t options. They never have been. In fact, if “necessity is the mother of invention” we’re heading for the mother of all periods of change not because we want to, but because that’s where tomorrow is.

Entrepreneurial maturity. The two words are not as contradictory as they might appear. As markets cool, venture capitalists tighten their money belts, becoming more selective in awarding their hotly pursued financing to start-ups that have the greatest probability of success.  Expect these moguls to more closely scrutinize resumes, infrastructures, and business models, looking for quantifiable winners who have not only led the charge in the past, but have proven track records for delivering on their promises.

Communicate, communicate, communicate has replaced location, location, location, as verbal triplets that bear repeating. No matter how often it’s said, most people don’t do a good job of asking questions and listening to the answers they get. Instead, they keep pounding until the answer changes or the questioner goes away.

If employees are the first casualties of mishandled communication, customers run a close second. When either group is left to figure out what they don’t understand but need to know, they not only lose their connection with the larger organization, they lose their will to connect. With brand and company loyalty at a low ebb, communication is a three-peat worth listening to.

Community. Employees are working more and want more than a paycheck in return. They want their opinions considered, they want to make a difference. The want to fit in, they want friendship and support. Simply stated, they want a sense of community. The workplace is starting to meet them halfway. It’s more casual, hierarchies are flattened, and teamwork is an expectation instead of a slogan.

There’s an old expression, “the more things change, the more they stay the same”. Reinvention, maturity, communication, and community speak to basic needs we all have. We want to find a connection between what the world wants and who we are, what we seek in ourselves and what we’re willing and able to give to others.

In our determination to be more than what we currently are, we’ll have to grow and give others the space and the grace to do the same. Inevitably, we’re going to make mistakes. Our success will be measured by our ability to learn from them, regroup, and move on.

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Yes! You may use this article by Executive and Career Coach, Joyce Richman, in your blog, article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.joycerichman.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since she started her own practice in 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com.